Will Percy survive? We can only hope.

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO

Percy's POV

I turned my head as the spider came towards me. At least Annabeth got away, I thought. As long as she's safe, I don't care what happens to me. The spider's mandibles were inches from my neck. I closed my eyes. Nothing happened; maybe it was toying with me again? Still nothing. I opened one eye and saw the spider standing inches from me, motionless. Then it collapsed, and I saw a very frightened Annabeth on its back. She pulled her knife from its neck and jumped down, shivering. I had never been so happy to see someone in my entire life. She came over and started to cut me out of the web.

"Annabeth, thank the gods. I thought I was done."

"You really think I'd leave you alone?" she said. "That's the last thing I'd do. You wouldn't last five minutes without me."

I smiled as she cut through the last of the webs. She put her knife away and I gave her a huge hug. It surprised her at first, but then she hugged me back.

"I thought you were afraid I spiders?" I said, not letting go.

"Yeah well, no ones allowed to beat you up but me." she said.

I laughed, but then she looked at me seriously.

"Do you actually think I would just leave you?"

"Well no," I said. "I was just hoping you got away alright, and that it wouldn't be able to hurt you."

"That's what you were thinking? You weren't freaking out that you were about to die?" she asked me.

"No, of course I was freaking out, but if I knew you were safe, it didn't matter." I said shyly.

She pulled in for another hug.

"Percy, you're such a good...friend." she said.

I was a little disappointed when she said friend, but right now I was just happy we were both alright.

"We should probably get some rest." Annabeth said awkwardly.

"Yeah, good idea." I said, and let her go.

We walked back to the mouth of the cave and sat down.

"You sleep Percy; I'll keep watch this time."

"No, you saved me. You should get to sleep." I protested.

"No, I saved you, so I get to pick. Go to sleep."

"You go to sleep."

"No, you."

"Annabeth, you know I can do this all night. Just go to sleep."

She sighed, realizing I was right. I'm always right, I thought smugly.

"Well, I doubt there are any more giant spiders in here. How about we both sleep?" she suggested.

"Ok." I agreed, and we layed down.

"But what if there is something?" I asked, getting an idea. "How do we let each other know?"

Annabeth grabbed my hand.

"Like this." she said.

"And you know, it gets pretty cold up here. And we don't have any blankets. What do we do about that?" I asked mischievously.

"This." she said simply and shuffled right up next to me.

"That'll work." I said, surprised she was playing along so easily.

"Hey Percy? I'm still a little cold. Can you...?" she asked me.

I wrapped my arms around her and she snuggled up closer to me.

"That better?" I asked.

"Perfect." she sighed happily, and closed her eyes.

I closed my eyes as well, and soon fell asleep, all my worries about the quest and Python disappearing in this one, perfect moment.

Percy's POV

I woke with Annabeth still nestled safely in my arms. I shook her gently.

"Annabeth." I said softly. "Annabeth, wake up."

She groaned quietly and rolled over, determined not to wake up. I remembered how she had woken me up my first morning at camp, and decided I'd have a little fun.

"Annabeth, you idiot. Why'd you have to save me?" I said dramatically. "And you call me Seaweed Brain."

I brushed the hair out of her eyes.

"You know, I never did get to thank you..." I said.

I saw a little smile on her lips as I bent down and kissed her in the cheek. She opened her eyes and I fell back.

"Oh my goddess!" I said, pretending to be surprised, and putting my hand to my mouth.

"Mornin' gorgeous." she said, playing along. "If I get woken up like this everyday, I think I'll like it here."

We both started laughing.

"I wasn't that dramatic was I?" she asked.

"Well, you did fall of the couch, so..."

She punched me in the arm lightly.

"Shut up, Seaweed Brain."

I cradled my arm.

"Ow! I think its broken Annabeth!" I said, even more dramatically then before.

"You're such a drama queen." she said, laughing, as I pretended to faint.

"Get up fish face."

"Hey, fish are wonderful creatures."

"That would explain the smell." she murdered.

"You'd better watch it Chase, I'll get you for that one." I threatened.

She raised her hands and made a, 'come at me', gesture. I got an evil glint in my eye. Her face fell.

"Percy don't. Stop right now."

I didn't stop.

"Percy, I'm serious." she said, backing away.

I followed.

"Percy no! Ahaha! Stop! Please Percy!" she squealed as I tackled her and started tickling mercilessly.

She squirmed and kicked but I held her in place and didn't stop. Finally I gave her a break to catch her breath. Her face was red and her hair was all messed up. Super cute, I thought.

"Was that all?" she asked, still giggling. "That was weak."

"You want to go again?"

"Nono, that's fine."

I laughed and helped her up. When she stopped laughing we set out again. I was starving. There had been plenty of food on the ship, but I didn't think to grab any before we left. We kept passing fruit trees, but Annabeth smacked my hands away whenever I tried to grab one.

"That one will turn your skin purple. That one will have you vomiting for a week. That one...that is a pear."

I held it up happily.

"So I can eat it?" I asked.

She nodded. I cheered and grabbed a handful more. Annabeth shook her head but picked some too, she did look pretty hungry. We stopped and ate for a while. I had at least ten of them, they were delicious. I guess I ate pretty fast to, because I finished and sat there watching Annabeth eat. She looked up at me and shook her head.

"What?" I asked indignantly.

She reached over and wiped pear juice from my face.

"Nothing. Well, not anymore."

She went back to eating and I smiled. Maybe she did like me, I thought. I mean, she's kissed me a lot, never on the lips, but still. And we cuddled in the cave, and now she's wiping stuff off my face. I hope she likes me, I sure like her. Maybe like isn't a strong enough word. I think I'm in love. I thought about telling her right then, but didn't want to distract her from the quest. It always wait until after, of course, I might not be around after...

Annabeth finished eating and we set out again. We were closer to our destination than we thought, and got there before the sun even started to dip in the sky. We came to a clearing and Annabeth pointed.

"There it is. Black Needles Peak."

"It's big."

"Well it is a mountain, Seaweed Brain. What did you expect?"

"I don't know, but I guess it doesn't matter. Pythons down at the bottom anyway."

Annabeth nodded.

"You ready?" she asked nervously.

"Yeah, let's go kill us a snake."

Alright, so that one had some fluff. Deal with it. Anyways, this story is almost finished. I hope you guys have liked it so far, and I know you'll like the end. *evil grin* tee-hee, what have I got planned?